Competition, Tyranny, and the Birth of Ancient Greece
Tides of History
The Politics of the Elite in the 7th Century BC
Greece's polis was an attempt to solve ongoing conflicts between members of the elite. Wealth and power embodied in growing economic capacity of these elite families could be inherited. The old role of Basleus was replaced with temporary magistracies, offices that might hold great power but weren't supposed to be held permanently. One of the earliest written laws that of Draco and Athens deals with the consequences for homicide.
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